Ducks acquire Leblanc from Canadiens

The Anaheim Ducks acquired forward Louis Leblanc from the Montreal Canadiens for a conditional fifth-round selection in next year's NHL draft.

Leblanc, 23, has five goals and five assists in 50 career games with the Canadiens. He debuted in the 2011-12 season and led the team's rookies in goals and was second in scoring.

Leblanc went scoreless with four penalty minutes and a plus-1 rating in eight games this past season.

In 163 career AHL games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Leblanc had 34 goals, 34 assists and 146 penalty minutes.

"After three seasons with the Canadiens organization we felt that moving forward, the best option for Louis and our organization was to give him the opportunity to pursue his career with another team," Hamilton general manager Marc Bergevin said in a statement.

"Throughout his entire stay with our organization Louis showed great professionalism and a constant desire to improve. We thank him for his contribution and wish him success for the continuation of his career."

Leblanc was a first round draft choice of the Canadiens in 2009.

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What you see is what you get each year from Pittsburgh, which builds through the draft, doesn’t sign a lot of free agents and basically comes at you. How much Ben Roethlisberger has left is a question asked every September given the number of hits he takes. The biggest change will be at defensive coordinator, where legend Dick Lebeau is gone – which may mean the LBs will be freer to attack the pocket.

The Vikes have Adrian Peterson back and things seem to have calmed down a bit in Minnesota. But then again, Mike Wallace has been on board for only a few months. Vikes are looking for a huge Year 2 improvement from Teddy Bridgewater and if they get it they can make things sticky in the North.

In 2014/15 the Steelers were 1-3 SU/ATS in the preseason and in 2013/14 they were 0-4 SU/ATS. After missing the playoffs in 2013/14, Pittsburgh returned last year only to lose 30-17 to the Ravens in the Wildcard round. Mike Tomlin has clearly not been very worried about winning in the preseason the last few years.

Last year the Vikes went 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS in the preseason, after going 1-3 SU/ATS in 2013/14 and 1-3 SU/ATS in 2012/13. For a team which is desperately trying to get back to the playoffs, the preseason suddenly becomes a lot more important.

There are many players on Minnesota which have something to prove, while Pittsburgh will surely be happy to just go through the motions and leave Canton without any significant injuries.

Minnesota would seem to be the more motivated team in this one, consider laying the short points.

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